THE founder of the Eden Project said the troubled National Botanic Garden of Wales must be kept open for the sake of the nation.

THE founder of the Eden Project said the troubled National Botanic Garden of Wales must be kept open for the sake of the nation.

Tim Smit visited the garden on Saturday for talks with chairman of trustees Alan Heyward.

No financial deal was put on the table for the debt-ridden #43m project, as Mr Smit said the visit was about offering moral support, not money - and he added that the impetus should come from within Wales itself.

"You have a wonderful asset here and it cannot just be left to waste," he said.

"The Welsh Assembly Government must stand up and offer as much support as it is able.

"If Wales loses its national garden then the nation should rightly feel ashamed.

"Nobody is asking for a free meal ticket but you need leadership and the gardens have not had that - trustees have been forced into a situation now where they are unable to make strong decisions."

Mr Smit also praised projects to boost visitor numbers and the hard work of staff at the gardens.

Trustees have had a turbulent month since the Welsh Assembly Government said it could not offer continual funding for the gardens.

All but 15 of the garden's 100 staff will be made redundant this week as costs are cut.

"It is a great shame as one person will have to try and look after this huge glasshouse here, alone," said Mr Smit.

But Mr Smit said the gardens had a great future in store, if given time.

"You cannot treat this like a theme park and count visitor numbers, it needs time," he said.

This year the Middleton gardens in Llanarthne got around 150,000 visitors, compared with 1.8m at Mr Smit's Eden Project in Cornwall.

But he said, "A lot more people visit the West Country than West Wales.

"We are proud of our achievements at Eden but we cannot offer a financial partnership, we do not have that sort of money.

"Yet we do not see the Middleton gardens as competition and will offer all the moral and intellectual support we are able to."

Garden officials also say they are confident about good news in the future, with more talks on rescue funding taking place today.

Visitor numbers on Saturday reached over 400 despite cold weather, an increase on last year's figures.

One project aiming to boost attendance is a partnership with the RSPB, nicknamed Aren't Welsh Birds Brilliant.

New RSPB officer Cathie Hasler aims to match Eden's "rock and roll" spirit and introduce youngsters to the joys of conservation.

"The potential for long term and short term activities and projects here at the Garden is amazing," said Ms Hasler.

"There are many rare birds which you would not normally see here - including red kites and kingfishers.

"It just shows how important these gardens are for conservation purposes and children have great fun learning about the birds."